Author Archives: Bobduh

Serial Experiments Lain – Episode 8

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Episode 8

2:00 – Just realized that between the physical Lain, the crows, and Lain of the Wired here, this OP could basically be the story of the show – whether that pause at the end means Lain has become god (singularity) or rejected the merge, I dunno

2:15 – “If you want to feel pain, don’t look away.” That’s right, Shinji. What did the real world ever do for you?

3:34 – And now Wired/non-Wired Lain are working together, with that persona actually representing her will. So maybe she actually did control the persona switches earlier

6:38 – “They asked if you were my real parents. Don’t people say the funniest things?” Welp, she’s not looking away, and this seems pretty damn painful!

7:23 – Arisu touches her shoulder. They keep indicating the reality of this connection with that physical contact she can find nowhere else

8:20 – And Lain immediately tears up at being threatened by the one person who matters to her. SAVE HER ARISUUU

8:54 – That statue has a tiny head

11:30 – “God makes his grand entrance,” eh? And claims that he is her? And that her real world self is a hologram? I’m guessing this is more meddling by the Knights, but at this point, if he says he’s god and god is her, it could very well be true

12:17 – Wait, whaaat? Why is the class all staring at her – what is she actually doing? Or has she not even gotten back to the physical world? Or… bleh, not worth hypothesizing, shit’s just happening

13:15 – So at this point, I’m guessing everyone knows her as whatever Lain of the Wired just did. So obviously she has to find the one person who believes in the value of Lain outside of the Wired

16:35 – THE BORDERS OF HER EGO ARE BREAKING DOWN. Man, if ever there were a post-Evangelion show…

Not that that’s a bad thing – Eva’s my favorite show, after all. But dem parallels be crazy

17:00 – Looks like Lain’s isolation and trauma have jumpstarted her merge, and now she can speak with Lain of the Wired directly

18:56 – “As long as I’m aware of myself, my true self is inside me.” Well that’s just, like, your opinion, man

19:47 – “Deleting.” Oh god Lain what have you done

And Done

What? Did she go too deep, and have her physical terminal permanently stolen by Lain of the Wired? Her AT Field’s looking pretty ragged at the moment…

Serial Experiments Lain – Episode 7

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I swear, starting with our next show I’m just gonna be posting reaction gifs. I need a vacation.

Episode 7

2:32 – “Society.” Damnit, I should probably have been noting the episode titles, I’m sure they’re relevant too. Ah well

2:37 – This shot kind of made overt the fact that her house sits at a crossroads/intersection. There’s been a great deal of imagery related to that, mainly in the constant pedestrian crossing stuff (which has ended with both Lain and her sister sitting in the middle of the crossing) but also recently in Lain’s Wired representations, where she was lit up at the center of a white X crossing. This could be relevant to either the gateway of information flow she seems to represent (like the walk/don’t walk sign), or even thematically to the fact that her choices here will decide the future course of the Wired and physical world

3:03 – Apparently the reports of her room’s explosion were greatly exaggerated?

3:15 – “The me in the Wired is becoming less and less like me.” Alright, so that seems close enough to confirmation that separate personas have their own will within the Wired – or at least that Lain specifically has a representation with its own goals

6:46 – Are these various characters Knights, and the program they’re looking at their next target for cross-integration? Not enough info, but it seems more likely than them adding a new element seven episodes in

7:10 – “Lately you’ve been slipping again.” As in the last few days, or from some time ago?

8:20 – Very nice scene. From the perspective of “the real world isn’t real at all,” to her immediate, surprising fear at offending her one real-world friend, to the elation of maintaining that connection, capstoned by the physical contact the Wired can’t replicate. Maybe the real world isn’t so bad.

Arisu might have just set Lain’s assumption of divinity back quick some time

8:45 – Information Bureau announcement is complimented with scrolling red banners, making me think that’s the organization the red-eyed G-Men represent – and their goal would be represented by the red “don’t walk” sign, a cordoning of the information flow with the hope of preventing the merge

12:10 – FINALLY the G-Men actually talk to her. You’d think they’d have tried that before the Knights had already spent weeks on their crazy-ass integration projects…

12:17 – “We have no intention to harm you physically” – I appreciate the specificity of that line

13:34 – This guy’s desperation to join the Knights makes me think the Knights are all actually personas, and have no presence in the physical world anymore. Also I like how his VR ensemble has an umbrella sticking out of it

15:28 – Hah. “Can you fix my computer for me?” A very cute riff on the “We must test the potential hero to see if they are the one from prophecy” trope. Also, another sideways allusion to how the youth are the first to merge

17:47 – Okay, so it seems like there might just be the one additional Wired Lain (sneering, extroverted), and then there’s the differences between physical Lain’s own natural and assumed personas – timid and unsure, sunny and inquisitive.

19:42 – “Are your parents your real parents?” Yeeep. Here we are

It’s interesting that her sister at least was recently replaced, though. And I’m not sure who set up Lain’s little clockwork world

20:15 – Yep, and here’s the primary Wired persona jumping onboard

10:55 – “We believe this to be dangerous… you’re what’s dangerous.” So yep, they’re the faction trying to maintain borders, and Lain’s own tampering/affinity for the Wired is accelerating things. Check check check

21:06 – “Something interesting is happening. We should just watch from the sidelines.” – IT’S A GOOD THING THAT’S YOUR FUCKING SPECIALTY, G-MEN

And Done

Wow, the Knights didn’t accept VR dude? Who could have seen that coming?!?

But yeah, this episode made explicit a bunch of what I was assuming at this point, though it didn’t really answer my last couple questions – they still haven’t confirmed Lain’s origins (though the fabricated nature of her home life was something I was glad to have confirmed, and I’m fairly certain she’s the end result of the experiment from 15 years ago – a living bridge with one foot in each world) or if Deus is what both the Knights intentionally and Lain naturally are moving towards becoming (though this also seems extremely likely). I’m surprised the G-Men took such a laid-back stance here, though I guess they can’t really do anything to contain Lain of the Wired – if they imprison corporeal Lain, Wired Lain will just not check in at the terminal for a while.

It would appear that the housewife actually is one of the Knights, and that their new game has just been released. I guess we’ll have to wait until next… oh wait, we don’t have to wait for shit.

Craft Exercise – Little Witch Academia as a Series

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Management: I’m aware I basically plot out the most standard possible genre piece here. The point was not to outline something potentially groundbreaking, it was to illustrate the amount of work a first episode generally has to do regarding narrative structure. A really great first episode would require a much larger infusion of creativity than the structural hack job I perform here.

Question:

Little Witch Academia was awesome! Do you think it could be turned into a full series?

Bobduh:

It was great, but it was also solidly self-contained – it told a fun, breezy story that doubled as a metaphor for that “showy entertainment is needed to inspire the young” theme (words on that if you’re interested), and everything was written/characterized to the extent needed for this one thing. It answered all narrative questions it raised and fully articulated its thematic intent – I think it’d have to be quite different to work as a series.

Question:

Can you elaborate on that? What made the OVA unsuitable as a first episode, and what would have to be changed to make it work?

Bobduh:

Well, the main problem is that like I said, it basically answered all of its own questions, which is something a first episode generally doesn’t do (though this obviously isn’t a rule, and I’m not the story police – for instance, Cowboy Bebop’s first episode is virtually entirely self-contained, though it does actually raise the core theme of the difficulty of escaping your past identity and choices). Anyway! The conflicts Little Witch Academia raised were:

  1. The protagonist gaining acceptance and respect at her school.
  2. The protagonist proving the legitimacy of her idol.
  3. The protagonist resolving her specific conflict with her rival.
  4. The treasure hunt/dragon fight.

Additionally, the thematic point that I’m fairly sure this show as trying to make was:

“Ostensibly low-art popular entertainment like the flashy shows of this protagonist’s idol are actually not just entertaining, they are incredibly important as inspiration for the next generation – as an example, here is a story of that actually occurring within a piece of this kind of entertainment created by a group of people who were in this way inspired.”

The OVA resolves every one of those conflicts entirely (she saves the school, thus resolving 1 and 4 – she does it by using the wand of her idol, thus resolving 2 – she ends the series by being rescued by and bonding with her rival, thus resolving 3). While doing these things, it acts in its entirety as the thematic argument I outlined. This is all great storytelling, and I think the piece totally works on a surface and thematic level because of it.

However, if I were to make a full series of this, I feel something like this would act more as “proof of concept” than a first episode – you can’t really have the first episode of your show not leave any suspense, or unanswered questions, or possible new avenues for conflict, or not-fully-explored themes.

How would I go about fixing this?

The world would certainly have to be a bit broader – the current cast/characterization would possibly work for a very simple monster-of-the-week thing, but seeing as how we’re trying to make a good series here and the OVA has already displayed the creator’s interest in actually raising interesting thematic arguments, I’d like to aim a bit higher than that.

Currently, a decent bit of runtime in this OVA is dedicated to articulating the various beats of the thematic argument (the initial performance, arguments both with her rival and with her friends about her validity, all the business with the wand, the final reconciliation) – in a full series, I wouldn’t recommend this, and would probably just have a hint or two of this thematic concern.

The surface conflict would probably have to be shaved a bit and tuned down as well – having our hero save the school from a dragon probably works better for a one-episode OVA than a series that’s supposed to rise in tension throughout, plus having her save the school immediately too easily resolves the conflict of her finding her place at the school as someone who hasn’t come from a classic wizarding background.

Instead, we’d probably want a little more runtime dedicated both to characterizing her friends and rival a little more deeply, perhaps providing first glimpses of a couple more secondary characters for future conflicts, and probably providing a more full picture of daily life at the school. I feel one of the main strengths of this material is “Harry Potter but as an anime with vivid, humorous animation,” and one of the main strengths of Harry Potter was, in my opinion, how entertaining they made life at the school seem even in the absence of any crazy tension or dark forces. Again, since we’re stretching the darker stuff across a greater number of episodes here, I feel the first episode would probably be lighter in tone in general, and ride more on its humor than its adventure-adrenaline rush, as more pieces of the starting template are set in place.

That’s not to say there wouldn’t be a conflict, though – my first instinct would be to have our Protagonist’s desire to prove herself result in some disastrous consequences, with some theatrical conflict that would hopefully complicate the rivalry between her and Rival, possibly accidentally unveil a hint (perhaps only to the audience) of some larger, darker conflict to come, and likely clue the Protagonist in to the possibility that her Idol exists somewhere at the school. This would hopefully offer plenty of opportunity for the story to go in a variety of directions and hints of things to come while still offering immediate entertainment through humor, likable characters, immediately understandable rivalry, the first steps in exploring a very imaginative world, and a fun, brief dose of action to top it off.

Anyway. Those are my first thoughts on how I’d go about converting this to a series.

Suisei no Gargantia – Episode 6

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Gargantia!

So, last week I learned for the first time that Urobuchi is in fact only scripting the first and last episodes of this show… and suddenly everything made sense. The weird storytelling ticks, the massive shifts in tone, the unwelcome sudden homophobia… it’s all different writers. Of course.

With that in mind, I’m gonna try to keep my expectations in check going forward, and just try to enjoy this show for whatever it happens to be week-to-week. It’s created a beautiful world, and I like the tone and characters, and if itfeels like discussing its societal themes some more, I’d certainly love to hear it – but I’m also fine with it being a warmhearted adventure story, since it’s also quite good at that.

Just… no more transvestite molesters, okay? Please?

Episode 6

0:46 – Butt

More importantly, I really like how the immediate implication here (“I only worked one day, and can buy over a hundred meals? I must have been overpaid…”) is both a great articulation of Ledo’s narrow value system, as well as a fantastic indication that to the Gargantians, basic necessities such as food are pretty much a given, and not something you have to expend all your effort in earning – the amount of work you do should not earn you the right to live, it should earn you the right to decide what actual pursuit you funnel your effort into

2:09 – “Objection repeated: Inefficient.” Chamber can’t comprehend the desire to be useful and gain pride as a valued member of this community.

See, I love this stuff. It’s only because I’m so fascinated in this show’s articulation of a utopian society that I get antsy when it does something else – there just aren’t other shows I can go to that have ideas as smart as this one

4:52 – “We don’t got that. Use your own eyes to make decisions.” I wonder if we’re gonna reach a point where Ledo just turns off that Chamber analysis screen

8:57 – “Want to go home?” “But I have no map” Sadly life is a little more complicated than that, Ledo

9:52 – Butt

13:11 – Huh. That scene was… very interesting. It set a very strange mood between the chanting, the dancing, and Pinion/Bellows bartering for Ledo’s support. It built in a sort of hazy, ominous way towards that reveal of the octopus, and Ledo’s increasing distraction, as well as Pinion and Bellows getting increasingly personal in their bargaining, worked really well. It actually makes perfect sense to me that it would take something as blatant as that for a person like Ledo to realize, “hey, Amy’s a woman.” The sex stuff, I dunno – I mean, it was their dance, it’s intended even from an in-universe perspective to be voyeuristic, but it was also just so obviously sexualized that it came across as not necessarily true to the characters. I think it could have been handled differently… but then again, this scene seemed very intended to put the viewer strictly in Ledo’s very claustrophobic headspace, and the dance was a key element of that

But yeah, interesting scene overall

15:20 – Neat little arc in this episode – Ledo going from eating strict seaweed since it’s most efficient, to simultaneously realizing the enjoyment he can get out of more elaborate food and watching Amy dance, to fully understanding how Chamber failed and resolving the issue. Now we just need a scene applying that growth to the Amy side…

15:32 – Bingo

19:10 – Wow. Gargantia, you have some beautiful moments

And Done

Damn squid!

I really, really liked that episode. In fact, I think it pretty much struck the absolute perfect balance for this show – some nice dashes of their philosophy illustrated through the natural turns of the story, some more exploration of their world, and some beautiful moments between the characters. I think overall I actually really liked that central bar scene, mainly because it was both interesting structurally and definitely intended to really trap the viewer with Ledo’s point of view emotionally in a way the show hasn’t really done before. And then later on… well, I’m obviously a sucker for the romance stuff, but that night scene was almost certainly my favorite one yet

Aku no Hana – Episode 6

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Well, it can’t be more uncomfortable than last week.

Episode 6

0:10 – The lilting school bell fills me with unearthly dread. Uuuugh…

0:25 – Now there’s an appropriate freeze-frame

1:17 – Oh man those classmate reaction shots. This show can be really funny when it wants to – Kasuga’s screaming derp-run, Nakamura’s airplane-noises stalking…

2:06 – What a lovely song this is

3:20 – It’s a great show in its own right, but every part of this really does play like a cruel perversion of a classic romcom, even down to the demented OP sung by the MCs

3:46 – Yamada’s definitely got a spine – he’s gone against Nakamura’s wishes plenty of times now, and here he’s immediately calling out his asshole friend for abandoning him when the class turned against him. This makes me both more aware of his frank dim view of people and more inclined to think he’s putting up with Nakamura’s bullshit at all because he likes the romantic tragedy of being abused like this

4:38 – Another great moment – Kasuga pausing mid-prance in horror

6:30 – Jeez, middle schoolers are dicks. I like how they just resort to make weird bird noises at them as they leave the room

7:59 – “Are you and Nakamura friends?” “WHY WOULD YOU ASK THAT, PRAY TELL?!?” God, this show doesn’t need the soundtrack to create an uncomfortable atmosphere – Kasuga’s perfectly capable of doing it all by himself

9:23 – “It’s a bit embarrassing to hear someone say that, huh?” Oh, Saeki. Saeki Saeki Saeki. That’s embarrassing?

11:27 – I like how you just get the shots of the desks being put together – “That’s right, shitheads, it’s time for an awkward lunch scene”

15:24 – “If you really loved her, you’d want to look at the whole picture” – Holy shit, Nakamura’s totally right for once! Kasuga is creating a fabricated version of Saeki to fit his own warped delusions of idealized platonic love. Unfortunately, her proving him wrong on this obvious truth will probably make him start thinking some of the othercrazy things she says are true, and then we’re gonna have a problem

16:45 – C’mon, who wouldn’t trust that face? [RES ignored duplicate image][1]

17:41 – “…spend eternity bound in noble and sublime love…” It’s like Nakamura is making Kasuga even more stuck in his delusions, since he has to articulate them all the more fervently to counteract her influence. Healthy!

18:32 – “I sure hope it wasn’t you… here are today’s printouts. You should take them to her.” After six straight episodes of middle schoolers being terrible to each other, it’s nice to get a brief glimpse of someone actually worried about their friend in an honest way

19:00 – This is it Kasuga! This is the moment. Walk in there, explain that you took her gym clothes, and it was stupid, and you regret it, and since then Nakamura has been abusing you, and that yesterday didn’t mean anything, and that you wish none of it had ever happened, and you hope she can forgive you! And she likes you, so she will, and the show will end at 6 episodes and we’ll all live happily ever after and I won’t have to live in this nightmare world of insecure middle schoolers any more

And Done

Man, Nakamura just makes this show. Well, I actually think both her and Kasuga are playing their roles to perfection, but her bouncy, silly enthusiasm for all of her cruel pranks is just great, and keeps the show from ever feeling dreary. She’s definitely one of the most entertaining villains I’ve seen

Attack on Titan – Episode 6

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EREN WHAT ARE YOU DOING THAT IS NOT HOW YOU PROTAGONIST.

Well, now that Eren has failed in understanding even the most basic requirements of Main Characterdom (don’t get eaten by fucking titans), it looks like Mikasa’s gonna have to save everybody. You might even say she has to do it…singlehandedly . EHHH? Armin?  Anybody?!?  Goddamnit, that was… well, thank you , Potato. At least one person has a sense of humor around here.

Anyway. Here’s hoping for some Mikasa in berserker mode. Let’s roll.

Episode 6

3:17 – I really like the tone of this scene. Each of them dealing with the stress of their first battle in a different way, trying to maintain their usual personalities even though the world is going to hell around them, with shell-shocked Armin sitting there as an example of what will soon hit all of them. Chilling stuff!

5:48 – Another effective scene. No soundtrack cues, no melodramatic camera angles – in fact, the camera does its best to obscure the situation. Hannah’s hopeless attempts to ignore a situation too terrible for her to comprehend, a tidy little parallel for Armin’s lesson of the day

9:02 – Mikasa: kills titans, saves townsfolk, good with kids

Also, I wonder what other “abnormals” we’ll be dealing with – so far they’ve had this derp-run one, the leaping one, and the armored one (along with the megatitan), but I’m sure this writer has more evil tricks up his sleeve

10:02 – “Ackerman, what the fuck made you such a badass? …never mind.”

11:07 – Oh god, lighthearted family time flashback. The darkest omen

12:10 – Subtlety, again! The violence of the situation shown through half-glimped splatters across the door and window, letting the viewer’s imagination do the rest. Damn, Titan!

12:20 – Even as a kid, Eren apparently already had those crazy-ass “gotta kill em all” eyes

16:00 – DEAR GOD EREN. YOU CRAZY

16:28 – Our Hero 

19:07 – Okay, dunno if we needed the “electric realization” powerup pan

20:15 – “I needed to act – look how late the guards arrived.” “I’m criticizing you for not considering your own safety.” It’s nice how both Eren’s strength and Eren’s downfall are encapsulated in this little exchange here

21:44 – Very nice tidy flashback. Basically her whole personality, as well as her connection with Eren, are completely and believably established

And Done

Well that’s an awkward closing line.

I liked that episode a lot! I think the tragic and dramatic stuff was handled really well here, with a lot of tact for an action show, which lent it more solemn emotional weight. I liked the stuff early on, with the recruits basically acting tough or happy or mad to keep the panic away. I liked Mikasa being a huge badass, and I liked the very efficient flashback.

I also like that next episode promises to be totally crazy, what with Eren’s death now pretty much guaranteed to be revealed to Mikasa, and Mikasa assisting our beloved squads in their retreat. Exciting times in our favorite blood-soaked hellscape!

Serial Experiments Lain – Episode 6

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Episode 6

1:58 – A question just occurred to me – is there someone the audience is supposed to “root for” in this series? Does it have a “protagonist” in the traditional sense? The original Lain is a cypher – she’s curious and lonely, but exhibits only the slightest traces of personality. The other Lains have more personality, but they seem like intruders, since the original Lain doesn’t seem aware or in control of them. Is the amalgamation of these various personas supposed to amount to a single person/identity we can empathize with? It seems difficult, since the personas seem so willfully constructed – normally, you empathize with characters because you understand them, and how their experiences led to them being the person they are. In this case, those personas seem fabricated to serve various purposes, and not honest reflections of anyone’s actual experiences

Outside of Lain’s continuous sinking into the Wired, the narrative here is also pretty loose as well – last episode this was taken to an extreme, but often the events on-screen seem to exist in service of the underlying ideas. And even earlier on, before this show’s philosophy was overtly established, it was more of a mood piece than a strict narrative, both because of the pacing and because of Lain’s minimal presence as the central character. It’s honestly normally not my kind of thing (character and storytelling generally take precedence over theme or aesthetic for me, though if the characters are the theme  we’re really getting somewhere), but I’d like to think I can appreciate any well-articulated piece of art, and I’m enjoying this so far

Anyway

3:43 – He steps into her room and show actual concern for her sinking. So it seems like her father is still here, at least

5:30 – All hail our wire overlords!

6:26 – “Everybody comes to see me… no, that’s not right, maybe I go to see them.” A cute allusion to the line getting blurrier here

8:20 – Unsurprising that it’s the younger kids who are first to adopt the new reality

9:53 – Thrilling discourse between zombie mom and zombie sis

10:20 – Another cute extrapolation of the themes – her Navi is secured by voice recognition, but that really doesn’t mean much when it comes to Lain

10:58 – Okay, so this talking mouth confirms my suspicions from last episode – those figures that appeared in her room (the mask, the doll) were almost certainly Wired avatars

13:47 – “Experiment data from fifteen years ago.” Oh man, are they giving me the final piece? All I needed before was Lain’s personal significance, and this is looking promising

15:11 – In case you’re wondering, yes, I repeatedly paused the episode to read that scrolling text. Most of it was just experiment jargon, but it mentioned recording a variety of “utterances” across several months using the phone lines. So, basically just noise. I regret nothing

16:24 – Our collected mental energies forming an energy independent of our bodies, eh? Hm…

17:14 – “That’s all you can think about? What about those children?” “Talk about self-centered.” You’re contradicting yourself, Lain! He’s thinking about the information – about our collective self. You’re the one bringing self-generated values and empathy into the equation!

17:50 – “The rogues that run this simulation.” You’ve been running with a tough crowd, Lain. I think you just figured out why those Knights are all so nice to you

20:24 – Ohey, just realized the red of their tracers is the same as the red of the “Don’t Walk” sign. I’m sure that’s just a coincidence

And Done

Whew! I was worried for a second there, when she was accusing them of being the Knights, that my whole understanding of the series was about to come crumbling down. But no, Lain’s silly, obviously they’re a separate group working against the Knight’s plans for singularity or interconnectedness or general mayhem

I think that’s enough chaos, guys. The Knights. An experiment from 15 years ago that led to many children being subsumed into one unit. Lain, a girl of about 15 years of age who seems to contain multitudes, and be strangely fluent in manipulating the Wired. The power of thought to form a kind of energy, which could then be used to affect the real world. Yes… [RES ignored duplicate image] Yesss… [RES ignored duplicate image] YESSSS

Ahem. Anyway. There are still details to iron out (whether this “God” is a fabrication of Lain, the Knights, the children, or its own thing, who specifically was responsible for Lain’s sister’s lobotomy, who the G-Men represent, etc), but we’re getting there.

Oh right. What I thought of these episodes.

Pretty good! I think when it wants to be atmospheric, it can be incredibly atmospheric. I really liked the stuff with her sister, as well as the ways the show portrays Lain interacting with the Wired. I like that it actually has a coherent central story now, and isn’t too wedded to its ideas to maintain a valid mystery. I like the various ways it plays with the pedestrian traffic motif, and I liked some of the questions about what defines something as substantive or real in the information age

On the negative side, I think the show has a few issues with pacing, and one fairly large one with exposition. Most of the time, its themes and ideas are being continuously portrayed visually and through the pieces of the mystery that are handed out to us – I wasn’t a fan of the moments when the show sat Lain down and talked to her directly about what the Wired might represent. I mean, we’re all watching the same show here – it exists as a narrative exploration of those ideas, it doesn’t have to outline and underline them on top of that. Those segments also worked against the pacing and mood of one of the show’s best sequences so far – her sister being broken down by the Wired – which was a shame. This show’s philosophical elements and sci-fi thriller elements are both strong, but I think at that moment they were working at cross purposes

Aside from that, I don’t really have any complaints – it’s a very enjoyable show with a great aesthetic, some interesting ideas, and a generally keen understanding of how to pace a mystery/thriller. Any other complaints I might lob (that it’s impersonal/lacking in character, for instance) are basically wishing it was a different kind of show entirely, which is not a fair complaint. This show is quite good at doing what it is trying to do.

Serial Experiments Lain – Episode 5

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Episode 5

2:19 – “If you can hear it, it is speaking to you. And if you can see it, it is your…” Implying the Wired is willfully choosing specific people to bridge the gap with?

2:37 – “Mankind is a creature that no longer evolves, is it not?” Boom, we’re into the singularity-speak.

3:50 – “We can escape that existence… I am God.” Yep, singularity. On the one hand, hey, go me, all my assumptions were more or less correct. On the other hand, well, where does the show go from here?

4:19 – Not sure of the significance of the pedestrian walk sign yet. I mean, I could invent some, if you’d like… like how it’s a symbol of the way electronic systems already control and direct the flow of humanity, or maybe how it’s a metaphor for all of humanity waiting for the signal from a monitor screen to rush forth in a new tide, or yada yada bullshit bullshit Deep Thinking.

5:32 – Oh man, is this a flashback to pre-lobotomy Lain? It seems like she was aware of these ghosts at a pretty young age…

6:25 – Ooh, I like this. Robotics;Notes dealt with this a bit, too, though it wasn’t all that graceful – the ways our interactions with the modern world are already mediated by technology, and our powerlessness when we’ve lost control of that technology, both physically and intellectually. I really like this “events come into existence as soon as they are prophesied” bit contrasted against it – in an age where information is king, and all information is mediated by the internet, the internet essentially has the power to define truth however it wishes

8:04 – “The other side is crowded. The dead will have no place to go.” When hell is full the dead will walk the earth? Is that the explanation for the ghosts – that the Wired is overcrowded? Seems a little odd

9:43 – “History is not merely a linear set of points that we pass through on a timeline.” Man, they are just throwingeverything at the wall here, aren’t they? So now, for all we know socialite Lain could have appeared at that club just because we live in a big ball of timey-wimey stuff where anything can happen any time

10:44 – Okay, we’re back to Lain #1. And it looks like the various personas aren’t aware of each other’s activities – or at least blank slate Lain isn’t

13:14 – “The real world is nothing but a hologram, a visual representation of elements of the Wired.” So now we’re in the Matrix, too.

Her mother appearing as one of these persona ghosts might mean something, but this episode is just throwing way too many ideas together to really propose any coherent point. The pacing is also dragged down by how esoteric all these monologues are, as well – I’m not a fan of how fully we’ve been detached from an actual narrative. It comes off like a series of philosophical lectures – and I don’t want to have a bunch of interesting ideas exposited at me, I want to follow a story that through its telling provokes interesting ideas. Granted, this show does that successfully most of the time, but this episode in particular is not very graceful

13:43 – “Are you really my mom?” Finally a question I actually want answered, and she freaking evaporates on us. Goddamnit ghost mom

14:16 – I like how every meal scene just has Lain spinning her soup in purposeful circles

14:46 – Lines of visibility and eye contact seem pretty important in this show. Characters so often look away when speaking to each other, or have their connection blocked by some outside element – her father’s monitors, the parent’s hands

16:05 – I like the idea of this episode, where you’re getting a view of Lain’s rise into Godhood or whatever through the eyes of her sister, who’s basically getting hit by constant shrapnel of this merging process. Sure makes for a weird-ass narrative structure, though, since we don’t know how real anything is

19:32 – Interesting idea. If the Wired is a world created of information, what defines one thing there as real and another as unreal? Currently, it’s our ability to verify from own world – but if our own world is being replaced, then an electronic God of pure information has every right to exist

These sermons still aren’t doing that much for me, though. The show is basically telling me all the things it’s been about the whole time – it’s already shown me these concepts in action, it doesn’t need to explain them as well

The fact that both parents are here lecturing, and that that is contrasted against the sister basically being witch-hunted by the Wired, is very interesting, though. Have they already both been replaced by personas (or just lost their agency into the Wired) the way Lain sometimes seems to be? And is the Wired now attempting to do the same to Lain’s sister – to remove another of the pillars of empathy still remaining to her in her original world?

21:15 – OSHIT IT’S TRUE. THEY’VE REPLACED HER WHOLE GODDAMN FAMILY WITH LOBOTIMIZED WIRED DOPPELGANGERS

21:50 – And her sister fades away. So those ghosts are the original personalities, now consumed by the Wired? Fuuuuuuu

And Done

HOT DAMN that ending was crazy. The plot’s definitely coming into focus here, I think. I still don’t know what makes Lain valuable, but it seems like the God of the Wired is determined to have her, and is trying (successfully) to isolate her in order to achieve that goal. The stuff with her sister was incredibly intense and very well done – I thought the lecture stuff on Lain’s side was a lot less graceful, and the episode was weirdly paced as a result (with scenes of high tension undercut by scenes of Lain being philosophized at by a series of ghosts), but honestly the sister stuff was so great that overall I’m fine with it. Maybe this show felt it was necessary to explain itself a little more – maybe it’s not wrong. Either way, it appears that Lain is now living in a house of corpses, being occasionally overtaken by the will of a handful of hostile personas. That’s a pretty sticky situation!

Serial Experiments Lain – Episode 4

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All thriller no filler this time. Let’s get right to it.

Episode 4

2:22 – “I don’t need parents. Humans are all alone. They’re not connected to anyone at all.” I guess we’re starting to drag the elements of the real world towards their thematic point here

2:36 – Oh how I missed you, wires and hum

3:33 – What does her father know? Was he always aware she’d begin to enter this world? He seems to treat her almost like an experiment to be kept at arm’s length – and her mother wants nothing to do with her at all. They know something

Also, is the clear/opaque thing with his glasses meaningful as well? Goddamnit, I’m pretty sure everything is meaningful, but that means everything could basically mean anything – there’s too much goddamn room for interpretation right now

4:47 – Okay, so we get a moment of concern from all three other family members here. Perhaps everyone in this family is just super weird and pensive and reticent, but aside from Lain they all actually are ordinary people

6:02 – Goddamnit, how… do… KEYS WORK?!?!

Having a lot of trouble there. So is this guy being haunted by another ghost of the Wired?

7:13 – Lots more info. So it seems people are giving up their bodies both willingly and unwillingly at this point. Also, Lain’s personality has definitely shifted

7:54 – “You’ve changed… but I can’t put my finger on it.” Gee, could it be her entirely new personality?

9:29 – Aaand now ghost girl appears as a “real” person. And Lain is using her newly acquired personality to successfully interact in the “real” world as well. And I have no idea what anything means anymore

I have suspicions, though – my current one being that the Wired world is beginning to overlap with the real world in more ways now – through personas appearing in person (the little girl) and through Lain adopting her (I assume) online persona as her current real one

But who knows

9:45 – Where did she get all this hardware?

10:41 – I like how the invention of terms like “Wired” and “Navi” keep this show from being dated – they’re just meant to be catch-alls for terminals and connections, things that are relevant regardless of the platform

11:15 – Lain asking the DJ a question without being there – more evidence for the overlap theory. It also sounded like she was using a third persona here – I assume the one that the Cyberia patrons know her by

16:07 – Dem corridors. I’m getting Goldeneye flashbacks

This whole sequence also seemed to explain a lot about the sci-fi stuff going on – though it’s interesting that he seemed to actually kill that girl with the weapon from his game. I figured everyone else had just run down a corridor that happened to correlate to running off a building in the real world – but it seems like you can actually kill people by killing their persona using the tools of the Wired. And then her body actually appeared in the sheet? Or her persona’s body did?

Either way, just seems like there are a few loose ends to clear up there. The real mystery we have remaining is Lain herself

Also, that sequence employed some nice visual tricks, and I really liked the effect of the invisible gun – but we’ve covered how visually interesting this show is

18:19 – “Don’t worry. I’m still me.” What does that even mean, Lain?

So her and her father are basically outlining everything we’ve figured out so far (“It’s not real” “The lines aren’t actually that clear – and I’ll enter it soon”). Meaning the show wants everyone to be up to the same page… meaning the show probably has a lot more to say, since we’re only a third of the way in. Exciting stuff

19:33 – “The Knights are a religion that is spreading through the wired.” And they’re the ones responsible for bridging the games – more shades of singularity here, or at least full interconnectedness, and the distinction between the two is pretty precarious 

And Done

Shit! Lain #2 doesn’t give a fuck about the G-Men – she’ll get so pissed off she’ll hack their tracers with a stern voice alone.

So, whatever she used to be (well, that’s my current guess), she’s becoming it again. My current theory – Lain at some point suffered some kind of persona lobotomy, resulting in the character we see for the first three episodes. However, upon reconnecting to the Wired, her personas are returning to her – because they never really died, they were just living separately from her as data in the Wired (which can itself take material form now – thus the alternate Lain at Cyberia). Why she has these powers, and why she’s so prone to having her actual body jump between personas, I don’t think we have the evidence to guess at yet

Structurally, the show’s plan seems to be to shift from psychological horror/mystery to sci-fi thriller, which it handled quite well this episode. Good stuff

Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru – Episode 6

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OreGairu time! Goddamn! Well come on now, there’s no time for dilly-dallying, lets get right ahahaha just kidding, time for another fucking essay.

Please, feel free to skip this if you’re not into this aspect of my shtick. This one’s honestly pretty skippable – it’s more a general media analysis piece than actual required reading for my writeup. In fact, I’ll even go ahead and mark the tangent with some kind of

Delightful Bobduh Semi-Related Tangent Time

I don’t quite understand myself. It’s something I’m working on, but it’s obviously a work in progress. However, one pattern, something I’m confident enough in to even consider a theme, is my artistic preference for passion over perfection.

I love stories that try really hard and fail; hell, I love people who try really hard and fail. Or that succeed, but with a huge asterisk. Or that triumph, but do so by making their original goal kind of a moot point. I think this kind of ties in with that “optimism in the face of tragedy” attitude I talked about a couple weeks ago – telling personal, relatable stories is damn hard, and I see great humanity in stories where both a person’s passion and flaws are clearly visible. While I always look to feel empathy for the characters within a story, I also try and extend this empathy towards the creator as well.

I bring this up because I don’t think OreGairu is a flawless work, or even all that close to one. In fact, on some level I agree with many of the complaints that are leveled against it here – it doesn’t always rise above the tropes it’s lampooning, it’s oddly speckled with jokes undeserving of its sensitivity and intelligence, its visual aesthetics are never more than serviceable. Maybe, in the absence of these flaws, I would enjoy it even more. But honestly, I don’t think the amount of empathy and understanding this show contains could impress me to a greater extent that it currently does – as far as my appreciation of this show is concerned, I doubt it could be all that meaningfully improved.

I can certainly appreciate more or less perfect things. For instance, I think Madoka’s only artistic flaw is Shaft’s unwillingness to curb their self-indulgent love of melodramatic pans and head tilts – other than that, I think it’s basically absurdly polished, aesthetically perfect, and thematically/narratively sound in every possible way. And hell, it’s actually one of my favorite shows. But for me, honesty and acuity of intent are miles away the most important factor in any work – for example, Evangelion is much more “artistically flawed” than Madoka, and whole elements of its production (its’ plot for example) are borderline incoherent. But there is so much honesty, passion, and truth in that production that aesthetic complaints strike me as hilariously misguided – for me, that’s like disputing whether it’s a 13 or 13.5 out of 10. In situations like this I always feel tempted to ask, “Yes, but what was your impression of the things the show cares about?”

I’m aware there’s some pretty silly hypocrisy in someone as wedded to the nature and value of craft as I am talking about how some times elements of craft just aren’t relevant. And I think there’s something to that – I try to judge a show according to how well it fulfills its goals, but in my mind, not all goals are created equal. For instance, last season, I heard from many people that GJ-bu was essentially the ideal version of a plotless slice-of-life comedy, and pretty much dropped the mic as far as that genre is concerned. Meanwhile, in my personal estimation, Maoyuu was an extremely flawed but absurdly ambitious attempt to deconstruct the high fantasy genre in a way that meaningfully reflected on the historical course and ultimate potential of our actual human nature, while simultaneously acting as a coherent story in its own right. If both these statements are true, I would rate GJ-bu a solid 7/10 and Maoyuu (as I did) a 9/10, and I would not feel any less justified in those ratings because GJ-bu has fewer “flaws” relative to its genre and goals than Maoyuu did. Please keep in mind, I’m not trying to establish an objective system of worth here – I am saying that, to me personally, some ambitions are just more valuable and meaningful than others, and reveal a creator passion and humanity that is one of the things most poignant to me in art. Whether or not they succeed, they are trying to connect and say something powerful, and that’s amazing, goddamnit. That’s what art is all about.

And I think OreGairu is aiming straight at the pain and hardship and insecurity of adolescent identity, a rich and universally poignant topic. And I think that, in every way that matters to achieving that goal, it is killing it.

End of Bobduh’s Delightful Tangent

So now that I’ve finally cleared out any illusion of objectivity for well and good, let’s get on with critically evaluating this week’s episode!

Episode 6

0:48 – I already like this episode. Normally, the bubbly love interest doesn’t get an interior monologue – but goddamnit, Yui’s thoughts are just as valuable as anyone else’s. The characterization here is good enough that I’d welcome a full episode from either Yui or Yuki’s perspective

2:38 – Damnit OreGairu these awkward polite silences still infest my life stop being so insightful

3:35 – A pretty great bit of scene setting here, with Yuki and Hikki’s non-Yui-influenced dynamic being each of them seated at opposite ends of the conference table, books out, leaning away from each other

3:53 – Another moment where I question the Bakemonogatari comparisons. Yuki knows she’s getting further and further away from the truth here – her guesses at the conflict aren’t insightful, they’re self-indulgent. She’s having almost Chuuni-esque fun with the situation, and the joke is kind of at her expense. She knows this, Hikki knows this. Their dynamic is very good

6:10 – These two have such good… not-rapport. Unrapport. They’re far too spiky to have an honest conversation, but they are so close to being the same exact person. It’s fantastic

7:20 – Dat twintails. Do what you must, OreGairu. I won’t judge

7:48 – Hikki’s sister is a very crafty matchmaker. I approve; these two would never get anywhere on their own

Also, thanks for your input, Commie. I certainly needed an OreImo joke right about now, lest any of us forget how witty and attractive you are

10:22 – Jesus christ, I thought Aku no HANA was uncomfortable. In the absence of proles to act superior to, these two just fall into the most awkward patterns of ego brinkmanship imaginable

It’s fucking adorable

10:43 – Yui really ought to invest in a new leash

11:07 – Goddamnit this writing is good. Simultaneously make a great joke about how Yuki can only judge clothes according to their relative durability and slip in a personal acknowledgment that she was never personally relating to Yui in the first place. Why not?

11:50 – “How does it look?” “How am I supposed to respond… it looks great on you, I guess? Although I think Yui would like something more dumb-looking.” “Sadly, I have to agree.” I should probably just stop commenting, because I think I could watch these two spend afternoons together for literally any amount of time and be perfectly entertained

14:25 – … What can I even say. This is… this is my episode. Of anything. These two are so adorable. Goddamnit. They’ve built these characters perfectly, and at this point they have no fear, no need to act defensively towards each other. Stop, OreGairu. Stop this thing you are doing to me

16:09 – This episode is such a (welcome) shift from the series so far that it’s difficult to even judge. The show sat in a status quo of solidifying character relationships for five straight episodes – now, when those relationships are challenged, all three protagonists are forced to abandon the comfortable facades that have sustained them for this long. I think it’s being handled incredibly well and very honestly, and the deftness of character shifting here is honestly just more agile than my ability to critique it. I think I recall having doubts about this show at some point?

20:30 – Kinda funny that in a show so concerned with social fronts, this reconciliation between Hikki and Yui contains more emotional honesty than most shows manage in their entire run time.

And Done

Well GOD FUCKING DAMN. This one’s a tricky episode for me to evaluate, because… well, mainly because a couple of the Yuki-Hikki conversations in this episode are already my favorite conversations between fictional characters that I’ve ever witnessed. So that’s tough! It’s tough to see dialogue and character writing I’ve already been so impressed by used to such devastatingly endearing effect, and it’s tough to haughblahgagaha I just can’t be objective anymore. Goddamnit you guys this show is so good. So fucking good. Jesus tapdancing christ. Goddamn.

Yeah. Not only did this episode have no actual flaws, but… guh. Master class in character writing, and in organic dialogue, and in acuity of psychological understanding. What else is left to say? This was my favorite episode of my favorite show of the past six mo… no. Fuck it. Past several years. Thank you, OreGairu. Thank you for existing.